The impacts of climate change on food consumption, household income, and child nutrition in Boseth District, Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia

Abstract

Climate change has become a most challenging issue for sustainable development in lower-income countries. Climate change has impacted food consumption and human health especially children’s nutrition. Malnutrition in children is caused by a combination of inadequate food intake and childhood infections that limit the capacity of the body to absorb nutrients from food. The degree of malnutrition experienced by infants and children is measured by one of three indicators: underweight, stunted, and wasted. This research applies a mixed-methods approach to study the impacts of climate change on child nutrition in a rural area of Cambodia, namely Borseth District, Kampong Speu Province. It was found that: 1) Climate change not only affects household incomes, but has multiple long-term impacts on child development due to health shocks and stressors, inadequate diets and protein intake, poor feeding practices, a lack of best-practice care for women and children, and other household burdens; 2) Villagers who have incomes that are below the poverty line can face food shortages any time but are especially vulnerable during periods of climate-related shocks and stressors. Household food consumption that is below national food consumption guidelines is the most significant factor causing persistently high levels of underweight, stunted, and wasted children; 3) Procedures for ensuring adequate care and feeding practices are crucial from birth to the age of five years to promote improved nutrition that adequately develops a child’s immune system. However, the study found that villagers who focused on securing a sustainable livelihood become distracted from the factors that improve child nutrition during this crucial phase of child development. Thus, mitigating the impacts of climate change on child nutrition should focus on improving both household food consumption, and household income. These factors have the most significant potential to address the four main elements of the problem of child malnutrition, namely: inadequate food intake, the capacity of the body to absorb nutrients, childhood diseases, and inadequate care.